History in brief
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| 450 BC | Herodotus described oil pits near Babylon |
| 325 BC |
Alexander the Great used flaming torches of petroleum products to scare his enemies. |
| c100 AD |
Plutarch described oil bubbling from the ground near Kirkuk in present day Iraq. |
| 347AD |
Chinese drilled holes in ground using bamboo to extract oil. |
| 1264 |
When visiting the Persian city of Baku (now Azerbaijan), Marco Polo recorded oil being collected from seeps for use in medicine and lighting. |
| 1800 |
Oil from seeps in the Carpathian Mountains in Poland was burned in street lamps to provide light in the Polish town of Krosno. |
| 1807 |
Streets of London lit by coal oil. |
| 1814 |
One of the first wells that produced oil on a commercial scale was drilled near Marietta, Ohio. The well was almost 500 feet deep and produced about a barrel or so of oil per week. |
| 1849 |
Abraham Gesner developed a method for distilling kerosene from crude oil. |
| 1859 |
Col. Edwin Drake struck oil 69ft below the surface of the ground in Titusville, Pennsylvania. |
| 1861 |
First recorded shipping of oil between countries - from Pennsylvania to London on the sailing ship 'Elizabeth Watts'. |
| 1885-1910 |
Oil discoveries in Sumatra, Texas, Persia an Mexico. |
| 1914-1918 |
World War I, the first conflict where control of oil supply really mattered. |
| 1921 |
First experiment of using seismic waves to image the subsurface - at Vines Branch in south central Oklahoma by William Haseman, Clarence Karcher, Irvine Perrine and Daniel Ohern. |
| 1931 |
Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger successfully identify presence of oil in a formation by measuring resistivity. |
| 1932 |
Oil discovered in Bahrain. |
| 1933 |
The Texas Company introduced the first submersible drilling barge which was used in the estuaries (Lake Pelto) Louisiana. |
| 1938 |
Oil discovered in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. |
| 1939-1945 |
World War II - control of oil supply from Baku and Middle East played a huge role in the events of the war. |
| 1948 |
Ghawar Field discovered in Saudi Arabia - the largest conventional oil field in the world (about 80 billion barrels). |
| 1956 |
Oil discovered in Algeria and Nigeria. |
| 1960 |
OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) founded in Baghdad by Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran. |
| 1967 |
Great Canadian Oil Sands Ltd (later Suncor) began production of tar sands north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada - first commercial production of the largest oil resource in the world. |
| 1968 - 1969 |
Oil discoveries on North slope of Alaska and in the North Sea. |
| 1971 |
OPEC negotiates price increase from $2.55 to $3.45 per barrel – oil crisis begins. |
| 1971 - 1975 |
OPEC Countries nationalize oil assets. |
| 1971 |
US oil production peaks. |
| 1977 |
Alaska oil pipeline completed. |
| 1979-1981 |
Oil prices rise from $13.00 to $34.00. |
| 1986 |
Oil prices collapse. |
| 2004 (July) | US oil imports at a record 11.3MMBO per day. |
| 2004 (Oct 25) |
Oil at a record price of $55.67 US per barrel. |
| 2005 (July 4) |
First import of LNG to the United Kingdom in 20 years as the North Sea natural gas production declines. |
2006 (July 13) |
Oil hits a record high of $78.40/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange. |
| 2007 (Apr 9) |
GECF - Gas Exporting Countries Forum met in Qatar - a group led by Russia with plans to “strengthen ties towards cooperation and stability in natural gas markets”. - The start of an 'OPEC' for gas? |
| 2007 (May 1) |
Venezuela nationalizes part of oil industry by taking over operating control of oilfields operated by ConocoPhillips, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Statoil and Total. |
| 2008 (July 11) |
Crude oil hits a record high over $147.27 per barrel. |
| 2009 (Jan 19) |
Oil price collapses to $34 US per barrel. |
| 2009 (Oct 20) |
Oil above US$80 per barrel. |
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